Can you believe it’s already 2015? It feels like the last two years didn’t even happen they went by so fast. AmIright?

Andrew and I rang in the New Year by eating our weight in a delicious crackling pork roast made by our Danish brother-in-law, followed by a party with even MORE food that we couldn’t pass up. Fourth meal anyone? I CAN’T STOP EATING. So nowwww that we’ve entered the New Year, and are all about a good detox, let’s kick things off with 10 yummy, healthy, winter salads I’ve rounded up from some of my favorite blogs!

This recipe includes purslane, which grows in your backyard, the cracks of sidewalks, etc. It’s basically a common weed that we all pull. Little did we know we should be tossing it with avocado and tangerines in a jalapeño vinaigrette!

The Holidays are here my friends and for the first time ever, I’m sending out a Christmas card.

Oh and I’m NOT a card person. Like. At. All.

Birthday cards? They go straight into the trash-ola after opening and reading them. Sadly, I haven’t even kept any cards from when Andrew and I first started dating through today, and now I’m kind of regretting it. The card he gave me on our wedding day? It’s living in a land fill somewhere – and I feel kinda awful about it. I think my biggest issue is finding where I would hoard all of these old cards? Or maybe I’m just really insensitive? So if you have a tip as to where you stash keepsakes, puh-lease let me know in the comments. I’m kinda thinking I should start hanging on to some stuff, and I’m starting with this year’s Christmas card!

Because one day our kids are going to want to look back at the way Mom and Dad evolved during the 2000’s, right?

Ok, back to why you’re reading this – A DIY Christmas card that won’t break your bank! I had my heart DEAD SET on this card from Artifact Uprising. I thought it reflected our style perfectly (clean + simple is our jammy jam), and it would take basically no time. Just upload my photo and BAM, I’d have a Christmas card within a few short shipping days. I was legit only a click away from completing my purchase. But then I remembered we’re trying to save money. Like a lot of it. So I finallyyyyyyy took Andrew’s advice (or let’s be honest, request) to stop spending and start saving!

The Christmas card I wanted from Artifact Uprising was going to cost $55 for 25 cards, coming out to $2.20/piece. Kinda steep no? I pulled off this DIY for just $.33 cents/card.

Format your Microsoft Word document to the size card you’re designing. I adjusted my settings to reflect the size paper I was using to run through my printer (6.5″ x 10″) and then placed my design on the page where I wanted it to print.

Create a design in Microsoft Word that you want for your Holiday card. I downloaded this font from myfonts.com, and then kept the design super simple with a phrase from a Christmas carol I can’t resist singing

I outlined “falalalalalalalala” in gold sharpie because everything looks better with gold.

If you like the design I used, you’re in luck! I turned it into a free printable for you. You can download it *here*. This design would also look adorable on white cardstock! Oh and because I couldn’t resist, I made you more versions with other Holiday phrases in case falalalala doesn’t suit your style.

* The printable is hosted through Google Drive. You don’t need to sign into Google to access it, but it may help to do so if you have trouble with the link. Can’t figure out Google drive? I’ll email you the file! Contact me at dionnamash@gmail.com. Please allow up to 2 days for email delivery.

It’s been awhile you guys and this past year has been a whirlwind. I got MARRIED (pics to come soon but you can check out our Green Wedding Shoes feature here). We moved from the East Bay to the South Bay onto my husband’s parents ranch to save money (read insane housing prices in the Bay Area here). I started up my own small business as a boutique floral designer for weddings (check that out ova here). And we planted our first ever m a j o r edible garden. Oh yeah, and we tore out our backyard this summer, and totally re-did it. Probably the biggest DIY project we’ve tackled thus far and it was like whoa.

So why the new blog name? And why doesn’t the blog URL match the new blog name?

Well, I felt like when I was blogging before, it wasn’t me. Blogging became a chore, and I wasn’t enjoying it. So for the past year, I let my blog go dark. It hasn’t felt right to write up a post until now (but I’m so happy to be back)! I needed a fresh start like a lot of us often do. After brainstorming a blog name that I felt represented me better, and hiring an artist to develop a logo, I got excited again to start up this next chapter in my life. Eventually the blog URL will change over to mashmakes.com, but I haven’t gotten that far yet so bare with the mis-matchy logo + URL.

Also, you should probably know that this blog isn’t going to just be recipes. Obviously I love to cook, and I’d say a large chunk of posts will be recipes. But there will also be recipe round ups because sometimes I’ll just want to share my inspiration and findings with you guys. And then there will be lots about gardening because it’s kind of my new found love. I’ll post pictures of good eats around the Bay Area and wherever else I’m traveling, and will use this blog as my photography diary (I just got a Canon 6D woop woop)! I promise I’ll keep things exciting, but I can’t promise you won’t gain ten pounds.

Oh! And how a m a z i n g is that steel stag head wine pourer I got pictured above? Talk about an essentiallll. They have an OCTOPUS which is totally my next must have. Because drinking wine is fun, but more fun when it’s coming from an animals mouth right? You can purchase them here.

My next post is going to be a l l about fall kitchen essentials, so stay tuned!

If you aren’t familiar with kimchi yet, get familiar. You’re gonna wanna put it on everything.

Ok maybe not everything, but it adds such a yummy crunchy, tangy, spicy flavor I just can’t get enough of it! So what the heck is kimchi you ask? Pickled cabbage with a variety of seasonings making it a delicious side dish, or topping to a variety of meals.

We have juicy teriyaki chicken, organic brown rice, kimchi, and freshly crumbled cotija cheese going on in these tacos and every bite was ahhh-maaa-zinggg.

I just wanted to momentarily wedding vent with you guys so that if by chance you’re also in the midst of planning a wedding, on an extremely small budget, or know someone planning a wedding on an extremely small budget, you can tell me “uh huh, yes it’s normal to feel like you’re going crazy.”

I invited 5 of my closest friends to be my bridesmaids. All of them (but one), I’ve known since 6th grade and younger, and I couldn’t imagine getting married without any of them by my side.

We’re on a small wedding budget (did I mention that already?), and by small I mean we’re trying to come in under $15,000. In the Bay Area, it’s almost impossible to plan a wedding for this amount, so all of the smaller details I’ve had to handcraft myself.

My first DIY for our wedding was my Bridesmaid gifts. I wanted something simple I could mail to the girls that still had some character to it. After making them, I thought they’d make such beautiful gifts for Holidays, family gatherings, dinner parties, etc, which is why I’m sharing how I made them with you.

I knew I wanted to use olive branches, but had no idea where I was going to find an olive tree. And then I looked at the driveway entrance to our apartment complex and noticed 3 olive trees in a row. Needless to say it wasn’t long before I was out there with a stool and clippers.

Materials

Twine

small (medium or large) brown boxes

Olive branch

Steps

Find some kraft boxes that will fit whatever favor or gift you’re giving. I got mine from the store I bought the necklaces at, and they were FREE!

Wrap your box with twine however you’d like. I did some different variations of wrapping the twine (as seen above).

Slide in your branch of choice. The leaves on the branch got pretty wilty and shriveled up after about a week. I’d clip the branch the day before or day of you’re giving the gift.

Heyoooooooo, break out that trendy kale ya’ll because you’re putting it in this healthy, crunchy, and equally creamy salad.

Do you ever find yourself eating kale and thinking “SHOULD I BE EATING THIS LEAFY, BITTER, TOO TOUGH AND HARD TO CHEW LETTUCE?!?” I think that all the time you guys. Honestly it never reallyyyyy tastes like it should be edible to me. But I’ve found I can eat the stuff in two ways:

1. Baking it in the oven with a little oil and cayenne (oh hey kale chips).

2. Drenched in a super citrusy or super vinegary salad dressing.

And here we go with an edible kale salad recipe!

Wondering why our bikes are in the background? Our teeny back porch is the only place I get good lighting. Welcome to apartment living.

So when I made this salad I loved it so much I took one triple it’s size to work the next day. And I’m not even lying to try and trick you into making this. It’s that. darn. good. Something about the dressing paired with the sweetness of the apples, creaminess of the avocado, and crunchiness of the radicchio, kale, and almonds, got me totally smitten. Oh and I felt like it was so healthy just eating it was giving me abs.

The great thing about salad is the fact that you can substitute whatever you have on hand and it usually won’t break the recipe. So if you don’t have almonds, toss in walnuts! No golden raisins? Get down with some craisins. Can’t find radicchio? Red or napa cabbage will add a similar crunch and texture! Feel free to play around with this salad because the dressing is bomb bomb bombbbb and will make anything tasty.

And now for her close up.

PS. I used dinosaur kale (yes that’s a real thing), but any kale will do just fine. I personally think dinosaur kale tastes less bitter, butttt that’s just me.

Go, go, go!! And let me know if you feel your abs coming in as you eat this

We just got back from Chicago you guys and it. was. epiccccc. We were only in the windy city for a little over 24 hours (it was a pit stop on our way to Columbus, Ohio for my brother’s wedding) and somehow we managed to fit in like 17 meals because we didn’t want to miss out on all of the amazing food that city has to offer. Ok so maybe it wasn’t 17, but we ate a ton and it was worth every calorie.

I promise I’m going to give you guys the recipe to this sweet, juicy, minty little salad number (it’s seriously 3 ingredients and seriously a no-brainer), but first I want to tell you all about Chicago! You guys, I DO NOT do well on airplanes. I’m a giant, giant mess when it comes to flying so when I found out my brother was getting married in the mid-west my first reaction was “um, what?” Once I got over the annoyedness (spellcheck says that isn’t a word but I’m going with it) that I’d have to be on an airplane, I started brainstorming how I could make it as painless as possible. My solution? Booking a flight to Chicago from San Fran on Virgin America (hello LED purple relaxing lighting with mini TVs on the back of each chair with cable so that I can binge watch Real Housewives of Orange County), because Virgin doesn’t fly to Ohio and if I’m going to sit on a plane for 4 hours I’m going to make a pitstop at a city that’s been on my bucket list. Then, we’d hang in Chicago for 2 days, take a very short Southwest flight from Chicago to Columbus, and voila we’d be at the wedding.

Several of glasses of wine later, I handled the flight like a champ and before I knew it we were touching down. We arrived in Chicago and wasted no time getting food. We dropped our bags at the hotel, I threw my hair up into a greasy top-knot (see flattering photo below), and headed out for a night on the town. First stop? The purple pig! This restaurant was packed and for good reason. Luckily we snagged a seat at the bar and ordered a few tapas to hold us over until the deep dish pizza we knew we were going to dig into later. The few tapas we tried were amazing (charred cauliflower, fried eggplant parmesan balls, and some sort of fava bean salad) and I’m definitely going to try and recreate several of their recipes on ze blog!

After the Purple Pig, we headed over to the infamous Bean and then popped a squat at Millenium Park to watch their first feature film of the summer. What could they possibly be playing? Chicago of course. Movies are quite the event in the park, so everyone but us came prepared with blankets to sit on, jackets to keep warm from the piercing windchill, and bottles upon bottles of wine. We watched for 30 minutes and then headed on a mission to find some deep dish pizza. We wound up at a place called Lou Malnati’s and it was pretty awesome. Can I just say though that I’m a thin crust fan? Something about thin crispy pizza crust just does it for me.

And because this post is turning into an essay, I’ll give you the low down on day 2 in Chicago in my next post! Let’s get minty.

This is the only way you can get me to eat eggs. You guys, I loveeeeeeee poached eggs, but can’t stand them if they’re cooked any other way! WHAT is wrong with me? Scrambled? WOOF. Omelette? Double woof. I think the one and only reason I don’t love going out to breakfast is because waiters give me the evil eye when I ask for my eggs poached. Which I totally don’t get because it’s not like they’re going back to the kitchen and poaching the eggs themselves. But whatever.

So anyway, let’s keep it light and bright like this tasty little sandwich! When I want a lighter breakfast, lunch, or dinner, this is my go to. It’s simple, I almost always have bread, spinach, tomatoes, avocado and eggs on hand, and it’s prettyyyyyy darn healthy. Which is what we want for summer, aka bathing suit season.

And there’s a little yolk porn for you.

But seriously, who doesn’t love soaking up their toast with yolk? Gahhhhhhh it’s one of my favorite things to do and for that reason I could eat poached eggs all day errr day.

By the way, wedding planning is SO stressful! I think we’re about ready to go to San Francisco City Hall and do it Sex and the City (the movie) style. We won’t. But I want to. Kind of. Not Really. A little bit.

So back to this sandwich, it’s just FIVE ingredients. And I bet you have them on hand. So make this for brekky tomorrow. You won’t regret it.

PS. Make this sandwich open faced (like pictured). Unless of course you enjoy getting yolk all over your hands and clothes.

And to think I once thought Sloppy Joes could never be classy. Psssssssssh, you guys these are so classy they should be featured in Anchor Man 2. Should I send a batch down to San Diego? It turns out when you mix together green onions, a little soy sauce, ginger, tomato paste, brown sugar, and grass-fed ground beef you’re in for the tastiest, Asian inspired sandwich EVER. I say sandwich because I feel like Sloppy Joe has a negative connotation? No? Ok, Sloppy Joe it is.

You guys, are you subscribed to Real Simple magazine? Because you should be. This recipe stems from there, and I can’t tell you HOW AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS these Sloppy Joes turned out. Actually I can tell you, because here I am typing this out and telling you right now. Duh. But seriously, every recipe I try from Real Simple always, always, always turns out to be a winner. The weeknight meals section is like the highlight of my month (I have such an exciting life), and when I receive my Real Simple, I get cozy on the couch and pick out which recipes I want to try. More often than not, I end up trying all five recipes they feature and am never disappointed. So there’s my Real Simple pitch and I hope I’ve convinced you.

In other news, do you hoard Asian ingredients like I do? I feel like whenever I go to the store and see a rice vinegar, low sodium soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil I just buy it. And then I come home and realize I have three bottles of each have to figure out how to use them. So if you’re a hoarder like me, always make sure you have green onions, ginger, and garlic on hand. Because that’s your trifecta for Asian infused dishes. And then make these Sloppy Joes. Oh if you have rosemary rolls put this meaty goodness between them.

Welp, this recipe would’ve been perfect for your Cinco de Mayo festivities, but here I am posting it on Ocho de Mayo. Oops. But hey, it’s salsa season so you’re going to want to make this every. single. day. until summer is over. You’re welcome. By the way, did anyone else notice how insanely cheap avocados get the week leading up to cinco de mayo? I wish they’d freeze well, I would’ve stocked up for the rest of the YEAR. I paid 49 cents per avocado. WHAT? Yeah, forty nine freaking cents you guys. I felt like it was the black friday of avocado shopping. I don’t really get why we are ripped off the rest of the year paying triple that, but whatever. I do it. You win grocery store, you win.

So this little avocado number is pretty darn simple. Chop the fruits and veg, and toss! I had never tried mixing pineapple and mango together in salsa, I’d always just choose one or the other. But mixing both fruits really made this unique. And tasty. So tasty. I’d eat this for dinner with a big mound of salty salty chips every night if I wasn’t trying to look my best in a wedding dress soon. And by soon I mean we haven’t even set our date yet. But I bought my dress already soooooooo is that weird?

I feel like we are totally procrastinating planning our wedding because we don’t want to actually come to grips with how much money we’ll be spending. WHY ARE WEDDINGS MINIMUM $20,000??!?!?! I’m a corporate event planner for a living so I get it, I know events are expensive. But for some reason I’m not ready to justify $20,000 on a 6 hour event that half of our family and friends will consume so much alcohol at they probably won’t remember much of it anyway.

Any and all cheap wedding ideas/non-traditional wedding ideas/wedding advice is ALL welcome in the comments.